Music and Thoughts

I don’t do yoga, never tried Pilates
Not many people want me at their parties
Tryna find my place, some place, oh I, oh I, oh I
And I drink a little more than recommended
This world ain’t exactly what my heart expected
Tryna find my way someway, oh I, oh I, oh I

If you ask the church then I am no believer
Spend Sundays asleep I’m just another dreamer
Still tryna find my home sweet home, oh I, oh I, oh I
And I guess I ain’t too good for money neither
I got two left feet, no, I’m no Jackson either
Just tryna find my way someway, oh I, oh I, oh I

I came to know of this song through one of my friends at Wellesley just about a year ago. I wonder how she is. Rudimental have produced interesting work that are rather upbeat as this one arguably is. As for Emily Sandé, she is one of fewer artists I appreciate in that her music carries far more purpose and weight than does that of the typical artist. C’est la vie is also a great phrase to know.

I present yet another song falling in the category of deep house. The Geek x VRV is a French electronic group and their style of sound consists of remixing older, iconic songs of funk and jazz. Needless to say, I appreciate their sound. This particular song makes good use of very small fragments and loops from songs long past — we have the saxophone, the older and somewhat crispier snare, a thick baseline, the works. Arguably, the song lets me get a glimpse into what I suppose my parents used to enjoy back in the day. More of The Geek x VRV’s songs can be found on Youtube, and the link has a playlist of their music. There is an array of interesting work out there that they have made. More often than not you should come across a remix such as this one, but now and then you can find remixes of more recent music.

I’m sorry
I don’t wanna be an emperor, that’s not my business
I don’t wanna rule or conquer anyone,
I should like to help everyone, if possible
Jew, Gentile, black men, white
We all want to help one another, human beings are like that
We want to live by each other’s happiness
not by each others misery
We don’t want to hate and despise one another
And this world has room for everyone
and the good Earth is rich
And can provide for everyone
The way of life can be free and beautiful
Millions of despairing men, women and little children
Victims of a system that makes men torture
And imprison innocent people
But those who can hear me, I say, do not dispair
The misery that is now upon us
is but the passing of greed –
the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress
the hate of men will pass and dictators die
and the power they took from the people
will return to the people
and so long as men die liberty will never perish.

You are not machines,
you are not cattle, you are men,
you have a love of humanity in your hearts
You don’t hate,
Only the unloved hate.

Soldiers, don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty!

Description:

I came across this song by sheer chance. I will only make note of the apparent lyrics. The lyrics are words borrowed from Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. The film is old, but it is the first and only film in which the silent comedian makes use of sound — that is, words. The speech he delivers at the penultimate scene of The Great Dictator is one of the most interesting I have ever heard, and it captures my attention even in its integration into a song. (I highly recommend watching the movie, but if you are not so inclined, please watch the snippet). I am perplexed as to how his words I feel aptly capture the state of the world. Scripted and delivered decades ago, Chaplin’s words still hones in on the heart. It is interesting.

Alesso is one of my favorite artists who happens to have been consistent in his style. A significant contributor to progressive house, Alesso made more of a name for himself through his remix of “If I Lose Myself” by OneRepublic. Nevertheless, “Pressure” has the mild complexity that his remix of “If I Lose Myself” has. There is something to the main melody that I appreciate, but it is subtle. This song is 4/4 — that is, there are four quarter notes per measure. He takes the first three quarter notes, treats it like 3/3, and uses four equally distributed beats over three quarter notes. Then, the last quarter note has four sixteenth notes. The overall sound sounds deceptively simple to the ear, yet the work is subtle, not to mention creative. I would have to speculate that he has a good understanding of music fundamentals (much like Zedd) to be able to toy with rhythm, bridges, phrasing, and so forth so easily. Great song.

You think I don’t laugh
oh, do things I can like so,
why are we losing time

I don’t want to get
oh, bring me
what I need so, why
are we losing time

It’s like I’ve seen
the light but you
have never known

Description:

I have never been too familiar with Klingande, but they are a French deep house group, known namely for this very song. About a year ago, I had come across several songs that a friend had playing on her computer and I asked for the title of the song. Having never heard the title before, I asked for the artist, but that didn’t sound familiar as well. I never had a penchant for other areas of electronic music aside from progressive house, but this new sound was worth looking into. Apparently the style that’s present in “Jubel” is characteristic of deep house. Somewhat easygoing but not too mellow, deep house is what I occasionally find myself listening to during the fall or spring when the foliage is nice. Like many other songs of deep house, you can notice some funk in instrumentation and phrasing, and, of course, a solid beat. In this case, the instrumentation of choice is the saxophone. We all love saxophones.

Cause you’re a sky, ’cause you’re a sky full of stars
I’m gonna give you my heart
‘Cause you’re a sky, ’cause you’re a sky full of stars
‘Cause you light up the path

I don’t care, go on and tear me apart
I don’t care if you do, ooh
‘Cause in a sky, ’cause in a sky full of stars
I think I saw you

‘Cause you’re a sky, ’cause you’re a sky full of stars
I wanna die in your arms
‘Cause you get lighter the more it gets dark
I’m gonna give you my heart

I don’t care, go on and tear me apart
I don’t care if you do, ooh
‘Cause in a sky, ’cause in a sky full of stars
I think I see you
I think I see you

‘Cause you’re a sky, you’re a sky full of stars
Such a heavenly view
You’re such a heavenly view

Description:

Coldplay has always had a place in my heart since I was younger. It’s interesting, in fact, how they have come to cater their music to what the people want over time. If one looks at “Clocks” to “Viva La Vida” to “Paradise” and now “A Sky Full of Stars,” the progression is drastic, but it seems to make sense. By no means am I finding this change distasteful — rather, I think very few artists have been able to pull it off by lasting this long and making their debut during such a period of change in artistic demand. The chords are a mild variant of your standard I-V-vi-IV progression (I highly recommend watching this video), and it’s a bright song at that.

I wish I was mulled in a cloud in the universe
I wish there was room in the sky for the two of us
Cause when I hear you loud It’s a hell of a sound
Cause when I hear you loud It’s a hell of a sound
If you where here right now
I’ll be telling you how
Well turn it all around

If we were written in reverse
And the end was our beginning
Our love would be rehearsed
And the pain will turn to healing
If we were running in reverse
Would you find a way to say it
Would you love me till it hurts
And then maybe we could make it
You and I

Maybe we could make it
You and I

I wish we were sued in New York on the avenue

Living in before we had known any other view

Cause when I hear you loud It’s a hell of a sound
Cause when I hear you loud It’s a hell of a sound
If you where here right now
I’ll be telling you how
Well turn it all around

If we were written in reverse
And the end was our beginning
Our love would be rehearsed
And the pain will turn to healing
If we were written in reverse
Would you find a way to say it
Would you love me till it hurts
And then maybe we could make it
You and I

Baby we could make it
You and I

If we were running in reverse
And the end was our beginning
Our love would be rehearsed
And the pain will turn to healing
If we were running in reverse
Would you find a way to say it
Would you love me till it hurts
And then maybe we could make it
You and I

Description:

Only a few years ago there seemed to be a certain expectation as to what progressive house entailed. A progression of chords (Zedd, by the way, is arguably the unchallengeable electronic artist when it comes to getting creative with chord progressions), an occasionally clean vocal component, and a melody that did not stray afar from consistent perfect intervals. In other words, progressive house used to sound relatively pleasant to the ear, but then again, that’s just me. These days if you take the time to browse through Beatport or any other domain of your liking, you can’t find music like this anymore. Instead, I’ve noticed a recently growing popularity with hard electronica, which reminds me of an interview Deadmau5 once had, and now his words precisely capture how I feel about electronica at large. But with all that aside, “Written in Reverse” is by no means one of the newer songs on the charts, but it was to me, at the time I came across it, a gem in a sea of gravel.